Improvement in processes of manufacturing shoe-tlips



J. A. STOCKWE'LL.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING-SHOE-TIPS. No. 178,031. Patented May 30,- 1876.

WITJVESSES INVEJVTQR a e707) V5 She/ewe.

N-PETERS. PHOTO-LITHUGRAPHER. WASHINGTON D C,

UNITED STATES JOHNA. srooKwELL, or Bos'roN, MAssAoHUsE'rrs'As'sIeNoR TOTHE:

PATENTOFFIGE;

STOOKWELL SHOE TIP COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT,

IMPROVEMENT IN PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURING SHOE-TIlPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 178.03 1, dated May 30,1876; application filed 1 April 21, 1876.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, JOHN A. STooKwELL, ofBoston, in the county of Suffolk and State ofMassachusetts, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Tips for Boots and Shoes, ofwhich the following is a specification:

Heretofore tips have been made successfully of leather by folding theblank and then pressing it, and forming a tip with a folded edge, as setout in my patent of February 17, 187 4. Tips have also been made ofcolored rawhide without a folded edge. But the practical difficulty inthe manufacture of these rawhide tips, which I have ascertained by myexperiments, is, that if the coloring be thoroughly done by the use ofcoloring matter that will permeate the entire tissue, and will hold, thehide will be partially burned and rendered crisp, and the tips willcrack, and hence are correspondingly imperfect and unsuccessful. If, onthe other hand, the coloring be less effectively done, the tips willsoon appear of a whitish color and become unsightly with use.

The object of my invention is to produce a tip that-will be cheaper ofmanufacture than one having a folded edge, and for some kinds of workequally satisfactory, and that can be efl'ectually colored withoutcrisping and injuring the tip, which is found to be a great practicalobstacle in the employment of raw hide for the manufacture of tips.

In the practical application and use of my leather tips or toe-guards toboots and shoes, as heretofore patented, I have found, for heavy andthick boots and shoes, and more especially for what is known as peggedwork, that a firmer and harder tip is desira ble than can be made fromleather of the usual tannages, without using stock so thick as to makethe tip-clumsy and uncomely.

Oommon' full-tanned leather, while it is susceptible of being pressedand compacted, so as to become sufficienrly solid and firm for tips forthe lighter and finer grades of boots and shoes, still retains a degreeof 'fiexibility and elasticity, which makes it not so well adapted fortips for the coarserand heavier kinds of boots and shoes as a harder andmore compact article would be.

To make an article'of leather adapted to the man ufaoture ofhard-leather tips, I have, in my experiments, taken advantage of thewell-known fact that there is a very strong affinity between tannic acidand the gelatinous fiber of which the rawhide of animals is principallycomposed. The union takes place very rapidly, especially in the earlystages of the tanning process.

I have discovered that by treating hides prepared in the usual mannerfor tanning in a sufficiently strong tanning-liquor, with frequenthandling or turning in a revolving wheel for a few days, or until thegelatinous fibrous compound of the hides has become substantially fixedand incipient leather formed, which will happen in three or four days, Iobtain leather which is not plumped with the tanning material, and iscapable of being thoroughly colored with the common leatherblackingwithout injury to the leather. Rawhide cannot be subjected to the actionof ordinary blacking (thebase of which is logwood, or its equivalent,and sulphate of iron) without burning and crisping the gelat'iue andfiber of the hide, and making it brittle, and fully-tanned leather, evenwhen compressed and compacted, still retains somewhat its flexible andelastic nature.

By arresting the tanning process after the gelatinous fiber has becomefixed, and before the filling or plumping process has to any appreciableextent proceeded, and properly coloring the leather in the process Ihave described, the leather so prepared can be pressed into a verycompact and hard substance, and made into tips or toe-guards, which,while they are light and neat, are also extremely tough, compact, andhard, and fitted for the roughest service. a

Owing to the compactness and hardness of tips made from leather preparedsubstantially as I have described, I find a folded, edge is notnecessary for tips for many kinds of shoes, as is claimed in my patentsfor tips made from ordinary tanned leather. A saving of one third in thestock can thus be secured.

Figure 1 of the drawings shows a strip of the prepared material ofsuitable form for making my tip. Fig. 2 shows a tip partly formed 2 lHS,031

ture, for that is the subject of another pending application; but

What I claim is-- The improved process of manufacturing tips for bootsand shoes, consisting in partially tanning the hide or'skin, as setforth, then coloring it, and finally compressing and compacting it intofinished tips, all substantially as specified. I

In testimony whereof I have hereunto sub= scribed my name,

JOHN A. STOGKWELL.

Witnesses:

NICHOLAS J. MOONLY, CHAS. G. FALL.

